Kauaʻi Community College invites students to find their future

Figuring out college can be daunting and frankly overwhelming. The sheer pressure of assessments, applications, finance, and just figuring out what one should do for the rest of their lives can keep some students from applying to college altogether.

In an effort to help reduce some of these barriers, Kauaʻi Community College offers a supportive onboarding process for high school students. 

Two hundred high school juniors and seniors and 40 staff members from seven high schools recently attended the annual Find Your Future event at Kauaʻi Community College. At this event, students were able to get hands-on with 11 programs, tour the college and speak to staff about the next steps. 

Transition Specialist Keanna Pavao said the automotive program had an electric vehicle, electronics had circuit boards for students to experiment with, and the culinary program made ice cream with liquid nitrogen during the event. Students were able to pre-select an area of study which they then got to explore further in break-out groups. 

Students were able to select from the automotive, botany/agriculture, business, carpentry, creative media, culinary arts, early childhood education, Hawaiian studies, HOST, marine science, medical assisting, nursing and certified nursing assistant, and science and engineering programs.

Students also were able to discover the wide variety of support services available to students. 

Registrar Kailana Soto said this was the first year that all high schools were invited to come to a larger fair-style event on the same day. 

“This event has been five years in the making,” Soto said. “We really hope to spark interest in the students about attending KCC.”

Pavao said students can look forward to a series of visits from the community college staff throughout the remainder of the school year. These visits will include assistance with college and financial aid applications, admissions and class enrollment, and first year experience sign-ups. Essentially, high school seniors can have everything they need to attend Kauaʻi Community College, including registering for classes before they graduate high school. 

“That way they can enjoy their summer, and then start at KCC in the fall with everything already taken care of,” Pavao said. 

Learn more about KCC at www.kauai.hawaii.edu